54 5 / 1 THE HISTORY OF THE FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS BY OTTO KLOTZ REPRINTED FROM THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW Vol. Ill, No. 5 (May, 191 7) AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY BROADWAY AT 156th STREET NEW YORK ay Tranafer JUN 8 1919 [Ki:i-i:i.NTr.li l-ltoM Till dcniiyin'liicdl Riiinr, Vul.. Ill, Xu. .j, .May, I'JIT.] THE HISTORY OF THE FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS By OTTO KLOTZ The object of this paper is to tell the — one may almost say — romantic story of the survey in 1857-61 of the boundary between the United States and Cauiida tdong the forty-iiintli parallel west of tlie summit of the Rocky Mountains and to relate how the final report, whicli had been lost until that time, was found in July, 1898. In order to give adecjuate meaning- to that discovery, it is necessary to review bi'ietly the history of the boundary line. V>y the treaty of June 15, 1846, signed by James Buchanan and Richard Pakenham, between the United States and Great Britain, Article I, describing the boundary line, reads^ : From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude where the boundary l;,id down in existing treaties and conventions between the United States and Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between the territories of the United States and those of Her Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along the said forty- ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the conti- nent Irom Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of said channel and P"'uca 's Straits, to the Pacitie Ocean : Provided, Iwwever, That the navigation of the whole of said channel and straits south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude remain free and open to both parties. In the official correspondence of the time the section of the boundary between the summit of the Rocky Mountains and the Strait of Georgia is spoken of as the "land boundary" to distinguish it from its western con- tinuation through the strait separating Vancouver Island from the main- land, which was designated the "water boundary." Throughout this article the land boundary, along the forty-ninth parallel, is alone considered. It was not until ten years later, on August 11, 1856, that Congress authorized the appointment of a commission which, with a similar commis- sion to be appointed by Great Britain, was to carry out the provisions of the above Article I. Archibald Campbell was appointed the United States commissioner and Col. J. S. Hawkins the British commissioner, and Major J. G. Parke and Capt. R. W. Haig were appointed the respective astrono- mers. Field operations were begun in 1857 and concluded in 1861. It is interesting to note the arrangement made August 13, 1858, by the joint commission^ : After discussing plans for determining and marking the line as far eastward [from the Strait of Georgia] as the Cascade Mountains, it was concluded to be ijuexpedient 1 Treaties and Conventions Concluded between the United States and Other Powers, State Dept. Washington, 1889, p. 438; also C. S. Geol. Humy Bull. -i"2r,, 1904, p. 19. 2 Foreign Ottice Correspondence, Part III, p. IG, Ottice of the Chief Astronomer, Dejit. of the Interior, Ottawa, 1899 '«ee also footnote 6). 382 FOKTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY 383 at the present time, in consequence of the great expense, consumption of time, and the impracticable nature of the country, to mark the whole boundary by cutting a track through the dense forest. It was therefore agreed to ascertain certain points on the line by the determination of astronomical points at convenient intervals on or near the boundary, and to mark such astronomical stations, or points fixed on the parallel form- ing the boundary, by cutting a track of not less than 20 feet in width on each side for the distance of half a mile or more, according to circumstances. Further, that the boundary be determined and similarly marked where it crosses streams of any size, permanent trails, or any striking natural features of the country. In the vicinity of settlements on or near the line, it is deemed advisable to cut the track for a greater distance, and to mark it in a manner to be determined hereafter. Although the survey was completed late in 1861 it was not until May 7, 1869, that the final report was signed at Washington by the two com- missioners. A very important agreement^ was reached on that day by the two commissioners, when they decided — that, between any two successive defined points, marked on the ground, shown on the maps, and set forth in the accompanying lists, the line of boundary above described is to be considered a right or straight line; and that this rule is to apply throughout the entire boundary without regard to the distances between the consecutive points or to the course of the parallel in such intervals. Colonel Hawkins, writing on May 10, 1869, to the Foreign Office and referring to this agreement, says^: "We were induced to do this upon con- sideration that it was of the greatest importance nothing should be left for future discussion or settlement and that our operations should be final and conclusive." It should be observed that the observations of the tv/o commissions were made with the utmost attainable precision and are comparable with the best field work of today. The position of the parallel in the 410 miles of its length was determined from twenty-eight astronomical stations, eleven of which were established by the British commission, fourteen by the United States commission, and three by joint observations. The total expense of the United States commission was approximately $600,000, equivalent to about $1,460 per mile. We may assume that the expense of the British commission was about the same, although the figures are not available. Ultimately the maps of the survey were published, seven sheets on the scale of 1 :60,000 (see index map, Fig. 1).^ Such were the methods used in establishing the boundary line, which cut across a wild, generally forested country with no population save in isolated spots. Where is the boundary? and Which line is it? were ques- tions that arose later with the advent of settlers in the more open country between the Similkameen River and the Columbia. As squatters and settlers began to occupy lands on both sides of the boundary line they found in places three lines cut through the woods, as well as two sets of stone cairns, which naturally left them in a nuandnrv 3 Ibid . Part IV, p. 7. * Ibid., p. 5. ^ And publication cited in footnote 9. pp. 22-23. 384 Till-: GEOGKAPIIICAL KEVIEW ^ H ^ O ^^ 7\ap^~-~. — c as to wlu'i-c the (k'linite boundary line was. Settlers on the Canadian side applied to the pi'ovineial government at Vietoria for the nec- essary infoi'mation. But none could be sup- ])lie(l from that source. That government referred the question to the federal author- ities at Ottawa, but here, too, no records were available. It seemed obvious that it would only be necessary to write to London to obtain the desired information and a copy of the tiiuil report of the survey of 1857-61. Now the extraordinary happened. This final report with the necessary data of the survey was not to be found in London. Time and again search was made by different persons for the missing documents, but all to no avail. To add to the remarkable situation, the duplicate final re- port was not to be found in any of the govern- ment archives in Washington. Does history record any similar circumstance ? Two gov- ernments are engaged for years on an expen- sive international work, a boundary survey ; the respective commissioners sign joint final reports and transmit them to their respective governments ; and the reports are nowhere to be found ! The apparently impossible had happened, and the outlook was that in the near future a new survey under another interna- tional commission would have to be made. Such was the situation in 1898 when the writer was sent by the Dominion Government to London and Petrograd on a special mission, in which was included the obtaining of infor- mation regarding the records and final report of the survey. All the Government offices in London were visited in which there was the faintest likelihood that the records might be stored, but all to no avail, and no one seemed to be able to give any assistance. Before leaving England, however, the writer, as astronomer for the Dominion Government, naturally paid a visit to the Royal Observa- tory at Greenwich. By chance his eye caught the initials B. N. A. on some boxes on top of FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL SURVEY 385 the library shelves — letters at once interpreted as possibly standing for "British North America." The boxes were taken down, the dust of years removed, and in them lay the long-lost records of the international survey of the forty-ninth parallel. The final report, dated May 7, 1869, and jointly signed by the two commissioners, together with other official correspondence pertaining to the boundary, has since been published by the Office of Chief Astronomer, Department of the Interior, Ottawa.^' With the material found it was now possible to understand all the operations of the survey, the method of placing the monuments, the reason for the existence of diverging lines cut through the forest, and the meaning of duplicate cairns. The occurrence of the last was due to the non-removal by the men as instructed of those cairns which no longer indicated the position of the accepted boundary line. In order to understand how and why unavoidable difficulties arose in making the demarcation of the boundary line continuous, it is necessarr to say a word about astronomical observations for latitude. The zero fron, which latitude observations are made is indicated by the "level," and its position in turn is the resultant of all the gravitational forces acting on it. Mountainous regions generally show deflections of the plumb line, due to anomalous distribution of matter. Were there no anomalies it would be possible theoretically, after establishing an individual point on any parallel of latitude, to establish other points on the parallel from it. Or we may say that, if two points are established, the direction a straight line must take from the one point to the other is simply a matter of computation. In the present case the effect of this condition was most noticeable in the 96 miles from the Similkameen River to the Columbia, where most of the duplicate cuttings in the forest were found. In a letter dated March 28, 1861, and addressed to the Secretary of State, Colonel Hawkins said^ : If the actupl toiindary -^vas to be defined by the joint commission in any part of the space intervening between the waters of the Pacific and the Rocky Mountains, the interval between the Similkameen and the Columbia Rivers is not only of as much importance as, if not of greater importance than, any other part of the line, but it also presented greater facilities for the performance of tlie necessary operations, while it embraces about a fourth of the whole extent of land boundary comprehended in the treaty under which the commission was appointed. The astronomic stations in this section of the boundary were, in order from west to east: Similkameen (119° 35' W. ; U. S.) ; Osoyoos (119° 24'; Br.) ; First Crossing, or Newhoilpitkw (118° 44'; U. S.) ; Second Crossing, or Inshwointum (118° 28'; Br.); Third Crossing, or Statapoosten (118° 16'; U. S.) ; Columbia (117° 38'; Br. and U. S.). It will be remembered that it was agreed to project the boundary line a short distance east and west from each astronomic station. This was done. From the British 6 Foreisn Office Correspondence, Parts III and IV, Ottawa, 1899. " Thill.. Van III, p. 41, Ottawa, 18'.)'J. 386 THE GEOUlJAl'lliCAL KEVJEW station at Osoyoos, the British commission ran lines — cutting the forest where encountered — west and east to meet the United States astronomic stations respectively at Similkameen and at tlie First Crossin